Nicolas Sanchez hammers a base into a Christmas tree at Shawn's Christmas Trees at Wilshire Blvd. on Tuesday, December 2, 2009. Shawn's Christmas Trees has been selling Christmas trees in West Los Angeles for 27 years. They are one of the oldest individually owned Christmas tree lot in the area. The custom of erecting a Christmas tree can be traced to 16th century Northern Germany, though neither an inventor nor a single town can be identified as the sole origin for the tradition. The tradition spread rapidly throughout Germany and abroad.